AUTO XTREME CAR

Before going ahead and purchasing your cart, you must decide whether you prefer electric or fuel based. Electric carts require battery charging at least every 2 days and require a new battery every few years, however they are much easier to maintain and a lot less expensive to operate. Fuel based golf carts can run for longer without having to be plugged in each night and are suited for those who will be using the cart for 2 days or more without having access to a charger. With the ever rising petrol prices, gas powered carts have become quite expensive to maintain.

Electric golf carts are completely dependent on their battery in order to continue running. Choosing the right battery for your golf cart is extremely important. Choosing high powered battery may end up been a waste of time and money, however selecting a lower powered battery can be even worse and you may be left stranded on the green. Before purchasing your battery you should find out your price range, look into various brands and their specifications. Here are the 3 areas to look into.

1. Battery Brand

Firstly find out where you will be playing golf and the climate conditions, because certain batteries perform better in the cold and others in the heat. If you are looking purely for the lowest price then Exide is considered a very cheap brand. However if you are looking for a quality brand that will go the distance, then US Battery and Trojan are the most popular through buyers choice. These brands are of good quality, higher power and can discharge quickly when needed.

2. How much?

The price is dependent on 3 factors; how much you are willing to pay, how heavy your golf cart is and lastly the quality of the battery. Firstly you should determine your price range, because batteries range from as low as $70 for a cheap brand, up to $400 for a top quality battery. If you have a very light cart then you will not require as much power and a cheaper battery will run your cart just fine, however the life of the battery may be short lived. If you have a heavy golf cart you will require a lot more power and will be paying more. Even if your battery does not come with a warranty, it can be purchased separately to the battery; however a quality battery will long outlast its warranty.

3. Specifications

The specifications of a battery can be quite confusing; however you should be sure to do your research, rather then relying solely on the salesman. The last issue you want is buying a battery with the wrong dimensions, so measure the size of the battery so that it fits into your golf cart. Find out how far you will be driving, how long and how fast. Batteries come with a 'number of hours'; however this figure is not consistent with everyone, because if you like to drive fast then your battery will loose power faster.

The same applies for slow drivers; if you drive at a consistently slow speed then your battery will be discharging at a low rate and will last longer. Lastly the ampere load is also dependent on the speed you will be driving at, low ampere loads for slower driving and high loads for higher speeds.

Quality batteries tend to cost more, but will last longer and perform better in all kinds of golf carts. This article has examined 3 steps to finding a suitable battery for your golf cart. To find out more visit an online battery store.

At GO BATTERIES you'll find quality brands at exceptional prices. We specialise in deep cycle LMA, SMF, AGM and GEL batteries for all vehicle types.

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We deliver Australia Wide to your door, including free delivery within certain capital cities and major towns and regional centres. Call or email us now with your battery needs and delivery address for a quote and to see if you're qualified for our free delivery bonus.

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Automotive lead acid batteries used to start car engines, are one of the oldest design of rechargeable battery in existence. The lead acid battery was primarily used for the storage of DC power and used in early commercial vehicles due to the weight and size. These batteries have literally dominated the marketplace for many years ever since their invention back in the early 1800's and have continued to be an important automotive component to the point were there is one in every vehicle on the roads.

Today, automotive batteries used to start gasoline and diesel engines, are smaller, cheaper and more cost effective than their earlier cousins, supplying greater starting and surge currents than ever before at a fraction of their original price.

Not only does the lead acid battery provide the correct amount of electricity needed to start engines, but they also supply electricity for the ignition system, lights, indication, stereos and other such electronic features found on today's modern vehicles.

The energy produced by a lead acid battery occurs via an internal chemical process which involves lead (hence their name), lead oxide and a liquid acid solution called the electrolyte. Solid lead and lead oxide plates are submerged within an electrolytic solution that consists of a very small percentage of sulphuric acid (H2SO4) mixed with distilled water. When electrical power is drawn from the battery, a chemical reaction takes place between the plates and liquid electrolyte releasing electrons. These free electrons in the form of an electrical current flow through electrical conductors mounted on the battery and out via lead terminals providing the electricity required to start the car.

As the lead acid battery becomes discharged, the sulphuric acid forms deposits onto the lead plates, but when the lead acid battery is recharged again, the sulphuric acid breaks down and returns back into their separate lead and lead oxide components. Heat is generated by this constant charging and discharging of the battery evaporating the water inside.

This evaporation meant that older lead acid batteries needed to be "topped-up" with more distilled water on a monthly basis but the modern maintenance free lead acid battery is fully sealed against leakage in which the electrolyte in the form of a gel is contained in separate compartments are now used. The result is that these fully sealed batteries can be rotated upside down or positioned sideways in the event of an accident without any risk of an acid leakage. Also these modern batteries have safety valves fitted which allow the venting of fumes during the charging, the discharging and changes in atmospheric pressure when driving at altitude.

The lead acid battery is the only batteries suitable to be used in alternative energy systems but the continuous cycle of discharging a battery into a load (night time hours) and then recharging the battery (sunlight hours) many times over requires a different type of battery as not all lead acid batteries are the same. The most important requirement of a battery is whether it is a Deep Cycle Battery or a Shallow Cycle Battery.

Consider automotive starting batteries. These batteries are cheap to buy but are designed to provide high amperes of current for very short periods of time (less than 10 seconds) to operate the starter motor and turn over the engine. After the car has started, the battery is then trickle charged by the cars alternator. Even on cold frosty mornings the cars battery is only discharged to less than 10% of its rated capacity at startup so automotive batteries are designed for this very shallow cycle service, (100% to 90% state of charge).

As a car battery is designed to deliver high currents for very short periods of time it is therefore made of many thin lead plates giving a large surface area for the chemical reaction to occur. These thin lead plates do not have the necessary mechanical strength for repeated cycling over a period of many years and wear out very quickly after only 200 to 400 cycles. Therefore shallow cycle car batteries which although they work, are not designed for a long term solar power or wind power system which requires a much deeper cycling service.

Deep Cycle Batteries on the other hand are designed to be repeatedly charged and discharged by as much as 80% of their full capacity (100% to 20% state of charge) without sustaining any serious damage to the cells before recharging, making the deep cycle battery an ideal choice for solar photovoltaic and wind power systems, as well as marine applications, golf buggies, fork lift trucks and other such electric vehicles. Although the deep cycle battery uses the same chemical reactions to store and generate energy as their automotive battery cousins, deep cycle batteries are made very differently.

The physical size of a deep cycle battery is much larger than a regular car battery due to the construction and size of their lead plates (electrodes). These plates are made of solid lead usually doped with Antimony (Sb) and are many times thicker than the thinner plates of a car battery. This means that deep cycle batteries can be repeatedly discharged almost all the way down to a very low charge and it is not uncommon for deep cycle batteries to be emptied (discharged) to as much as 20% of their total capacity before energy ceases flowing from the battery.

So to summarise, the lead-acid battery is the perfect choice for automotive cars, vans and motorcyles as it is reliable, inexpensive, and delivers high starting currents but for alternative energy systems, the deep cycle battery is the way to go as it can be charged and discharged many times over to a much lower value.

To learn more about "Lead Acid Batteries" and how you can use them as part of a Home Solar system, or to explore the advantages and disadvantages of using Deep Cycle Batteries as an alternative to automotive batteries, visit http://www.alternative-energy-tutorials.com/ today and find lots more good quality and free alternative energy tutorials as well as information and articles about the many different types of alternative energy sources available for the home.

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